EXPLORING THE NATURE OF THE BEAST - INTERNATIONAL-RELATIONS THEORY AND COMPARATIVE POLICY ANALYSIS MEET THE EUROPEAN-UNION

Recent work on the European Union (EU) indicates an emerging consensus that the boundaries between the 'domestic' and the 'international' sp heres, as well as between the 'state' and 'society', have to be crosse d when conceptualizing the EU. This article starts with reviewing the controversy between neofunctionalism and intergovernmentalism, arguing that it lacks some categories necessary to capture distinctive featur es of the EU. It then presents a framework combining insights from wor k on transnational politics by international relations scholars, on po licy networks and Politikverflechtung (interlocking politics) by compa rative policy analysis, and by historical institutionalism. Propositio ns are generated on the institutional and structural conditions under which network analysis is better suited than intergovernmentalism to c apture the EU policy-making process. Finally, the article argues that social constructivism has to be taken more seriously in the study of t he EU and that network analysis should move beyond rational choice mod els and incorporate theories of communicative action. More work is nee ded on the role of ideas and principled beliefs in the EU integration process.